Statistics published by the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that the total export value of crude oil of Vietnam was 222,847 tonnes worth $115 million, up 9.4 per cent in quantity and a decrease 13.6 per cent in value compared to the figure of June.

In the first seven months, the export turnover of this product was $1.07 billion with 1.6 million tonnes, up 10.8 per cent in quantity but down of 17.4 per cent in value on-year.

The highlight was export activity to Thailand. In July only, this country imported 113,486 tonnes of crude oil worth $46.6 million from Vietnam, signifying an increase of 190 per cent in quantity and 84 per cent in value compared to June.

The figure for the first seven months was $454.4 million and 700,581 tonnes, increasing 63 per cent in quantity and 18 per cent in value on-year. These figures account for 42 per cent in value and 43.7 per cent in quantity compared to the export turnover of crude oil of the whole country.

Vietnam currently exports crude oil to Thailand, Australia, Singapore, China, Korea, and Japan.

Although Vietnam exports a large volume of crude oil, it still has to import this product for refinery because the country's kind of crude oil is not suitable for the current oil refineries. Nghi Son Oil Refinery uses entire crude oil imported from the Gulf, which was exploited from deserts and schist rock. Meanwhile, Dung Quat Oil Refinery specialises in using the material exploited from Bach Ho oil field, but the reserve of this mine is exhausted.

This is why Vietnam exported 2.7 million tonnes of crude oil but imported 10.2 million tonnes worth over $7.8 billion in 2022. The imported oil mainly served these two refineries.

In the first seven months, Vietnam exported 1.76 million tonnes of crude oil and imported 7.36 million tonnes.